The Global Eighteenth Century
The Global Eighteenth Century, edited by Felicity Nussbaum, resulted from a series of conferences, seminars, and an exhibition sponsored by the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century Studies Center and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. The purpose of the essays included in this work is to widen the scope and the scale of the critical study of the eighteenth century beyond Europe to bring understanding about the people encountered in other parts of the world. However, this study extends beyond merely geographic and historical perspective; it broadens it to a multi-disciplined and global one.
The editor explains that the purpose of this work is “to juxtapose these alternative paradigms of indigenous traditions and other non-European with more familiar models of understanding in order to tell stories from the less visible interiors of the world”(9). She describes that the twenty-one chapters, each comprising an essay written by a leading authority on the subject, are divided under three separate categories, even though the topics and themes tend to overlap (11). The first chapters on “Mapping” treat the ways in which the world was represented and imagined, with a particular emphasis upon the development of maps and mapping. The second grouping, entitled “Crossings,” seek to discover how “sexual and cultural intermixtures--or the regulations forbidding them--had lasting effects on constructions of race, nation, and identity when these notions were in the very process of formation” (13). The final group, “Islands,” investigate the islands themselves and how they were conceived by others: as idealized Utopian paradises or as places suitable for settlement and colonization (15). Nussbaum includes a brief description of each of the chapters, which provides a very helpful guide for the reader.
This work presents a new and innovative treatment of the history of the eighteenth century by widening its critical study to global proportions. The widening of a historical focus from one centered on a national and land-mass approach to one focused on bodies of water started with Fernand Braudel’s study of the Mediterranean world and the work of the Annales School, which also utilized other disciplines to bring about a fuller understanding of history. Braudel’s work influenced the development of the study of the Atlantic world as a unit and the ground-breaking studies by Bernard Bailyn, Edmund Morgan and others. Nussbaum cites other scholars who have inspired the further widening of eighteenth century studies: Srinivas Aravadmudan, Richard Grove, Harriet Guest, Jonathan Lamb, Nigel Leask, David Porter, Anne Salmond, Nicholas Thomas, and many other historians, including those whose work appears in this volume (11).
The sources and evidence used by the various contributors depend upon the subject being discussed. All the authors draw upon both primary and secondary sources, not only those that exist in printed form but also manuscripts and archival material. The primary sources include journals, letters, reports, records, paintings, maps, memoirs, novels, plays, poetry, contemporary historical accounts, and other works written during the eighteenth century, not only British but from other parts of the world, depending upon the topic of the chapter. Similarly, the authors use a wide range of secondary sources: books and articles written on the subject being presented and ones relating to the subject. The source material for each chapter reflects extensive research, which extends into other disciplines including the fine arts, literature, archeology, and anthropology. The notes provided by each author are full and detailed and contain not only the sources being used within the text but also other works on the subject together with comments.
The contributors employ traditional and innovative methodologies in their presentations in order to extend the scope of their subject. Some of the writers use a biographical approach: for example, Glyndwr Williams, in “Tupaia: Polynesian Warrior, Navigator, High Priest--and Artist,” describes Tupaia’s early life, and he uses the journals of Cook and Banks for information about Tupaia’s role during Cooks’ first voyage of the Pacific. However, he extends his treatment by including an analysis of Tupaia’s mapping of the islands and his art work. Kate Telscher also begins by taking a biographical approach in “The Lama and the Scotsman: George Bogle in Bhutan and Tibet, 1774-1775.” She presents a biographical account, based on his journals, of Bogle’s experiences as an envoy sent to Tibet to obtain a trade treaty and information for the East India Company. Her study widens to show his fascination for another culture and the political situation involving China and Britain.
Other contributors take a primarily feminist view, but they also broaden their scope, as in essays by, Linda Colley, “The Narrative of Elizabeth Marsh: Barbary, Sex, Power;” and Betty Joseph, “Proxies of Power: Woman in the Colonial Archive.” Colley uses Marsh’s memoir published in 1769 to describe Marsh’s concerns as a woman captive of Barbary pirates in Morocco in 1756, particularly her fears that she would be forced to become a Muslim and a member of a harem. Colley extends her study to the whole problem of the seizing of captives by the pirates, to the attitudes of Europeans towards the Islamic culture, to the political issues relating to British expansion, and to the need for positive relations with West African powers. Betty Joseph begins with a description of the law case concerning the Rani of Burdwan, who presented a petition in 1774 to keep the position as a “zamindar,” on behalf of her young son. Joseph goes on to expand her study to the politics and corruption within the East India Company, and the contribution this incident made to the impeachment of Hastings. Both authors expand their initial feminist view to include political and cultural implications far from Britain’s shores.
Some authors take a cultural approach. Beth Fowkes Tobin, in “The English Garden Conversation Piece in India.” discusses the popularity within the British elite of the “conversation piece” to portray their power, prestige, and possessions in terms of land and property. She describes how this art form was adapted by the British in India for a similar purpose by including their Indian servants in their portraits to emphasize their excessive wealth and possessions. However, the portrayal of those servants by the artist reflects their attitudes towards their British masters, and to their significance in relationship to the importance of trade and commerce in India.
Other writers utilize trans-disciplinary methods to expand the focus of their studies. For example, Laura Brown, in “Oceans and Floods: Fables of Global Perspective,” begins with a description of the nautical images used by such poets as Samuel Johnson and Edward Young in their poetry. However, she extends her study by describing the importance of the sea, shipping, and commerce to the British during the eighteenth century. She describes how the concept of oceans became associated with fate, virtue, and to the future power of the nation through imperial expansion. In “Marketing Mulatresses in the Painting and Prints of Agostino Brunias,” Kay Dian Kriz discusses a number of the paintings with regard to the activities being portrayed and to the clothing, pigmentation, and roles of mulatto women in the West Indies. However, she also discusses how these paintings were used to make settlement in the West Indies attractive to the British in order to increase the British presence there to counter other European nations in this strategic location. Just as these critical global studies present a novel focus on the eighteenth century, many of the other contributors included in this volume use innovative and creative methodologies.
The editor’s choice of the contributors to this work reflects the broad implications of the theme. The authors represent many different disciplines: history, literature, art history, geography, and anthropology. Also, they come from many different parts of the world including New Zealand, India, Canada, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom (18), which extends the focus from a national to a global perspective. In the Introduction, the editor includes a short and informational biography about each of the contributors for the reader. Owing to their different backgrounds and interests, each author brings fresh insights and a novel approach to their writings about the eighteenth century.
The collection as a whole is of extremely high quality, but some of the contributors’ papers particularly fascinate and engage the reader. Glyndwr Williams’ “Tupaia: Polynesian Warrior, Navigator, High Priest-and Artist” describes Tupaia’s contributions to Cook’s successful voyage in the Pacific as a guide, mediator and interpreter, gifts which did not endear him to the crew. Recent scholarship shows that Tupaia was also an artist, and illustrations and discussion of his paintings are included by Williams. Greg Dening’s “Voyaging the Past, Present, and Future” was inspired by the building of replicas of the Endeavour, Cook’s ship, and of the Hokule’a, a Polynesian voyaging canoe. The Hokule’a was involved in a reenactment to solve the “Polynesian Problem” as to whether the Polynesian islands were settled as a result of accident due to storms and shipwrecks or by the navigational skills of the Polynesian wayfinders. The biographical study of George Berkeley by Carole Fabricant delves into some unexpected aspects of his life beyond being a clergyman and philosopher. His fascination for islands led him to publicly promote the building of a college in Bermuda to train English and American-Indian youths to be missionaries, even though he had never visited the island. Also, he promoted the use of tar-water to prevent and cure a variety of diseases, which he learned about from the Narragansett Indians. Finally, Joseph Roach, in “The Global Parasol: Accessorizing the Four Corners of the World,” shows how the illustrations included in atlases and on maps provided inspiration for scenic design to depict exotic locales on the stage and to suggest properties to further the sense of exoticism: feathered fans and headdresses, turbans, palm trees, and especially the parasol. These and other chapters provide unexpected delight.
However, there are some problems with this book. The balance of topics is top-heavy with chapters relating to the West Indies and the Polynesian Pacific. Chapters on South America and Africa are conspicuous by their absence. Even Nussbaum recognizes that further studies need to be done focusing on Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific (18). Also, in a study with such disparate essays on lesser-known topics, it would be more convenient and less frustrating to the reader if the notes were listed at the end of each chapter or footnotes were used rather than listing them at the end of the text.
Still, this work presents a ground-breaking approach to the eighteenth century. It does pre-suppose knowledge about the period; but by using a selective choice, based upon one’s interests, many of the individual chapters can delight, inform, and reveal to the reader the endless possibilities of extending the focus of eighteenth-century studies to global proportions.
